The high school and youth levels of sports can be the most influential time for the development of athletes. However, many coaches at this level simply do not have the time and resources to give their players the individual feedback necessary for them to develop. A new player development platform called Varsaty seeks to change this—and it’s completely free. Its CEO, Noam Mantel, took the time to talk to SportTechie about how her site works.
Varsaty helps coaches by saving them time and making their lives easier. They can upload games to the site and easily create clips out of the game footage. To keep things simple, Mantel describes the video editing function as only having “one button,” which when pressed, “takes the last few seconds back and creates a short clip of game footage.” Coaches can then tag players in this clip and also write comments, therefore easily identifying where exactly they want their players to focus. Mantel goes on to say that the clip “loops automatically and goes to slow motion” when the players watch it, allowing them to key in on and dissect they play themselves.
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Mantel describes that the main difference between Varsaty and normal film sessions is that “the player gets [game clips] on their profile forever so they can keep watching it, rather than watching it just once.” Many sports articles in this new social media era feature vines or short GIFs of plays that allow their readers to re-watch the clip until they can determine exactly what is taking place.
Varsaty allows players, even at youth levels, the ability to view film this closely. To allow this, videos stay on the site and are never deleted—even if a coach or player leaves their team. “The biggest benefit we see from this,” explains Mantel, “is that we see players logging in a few times a week and re-watching things that they’ve already watched, which goes to show how important it is for them to retain that information, rather than watching it at a team video session just that one time.”
Although Varsaty launched just over a month ago, it has been met with enthusiasm across the sports community. “So far, over a hundred teams are using it,” says Mantel. These teams range from a girls under 10 team to NCAA Division 1 and even professional sports teams.
Even though Varsaty has seen interest from so many different levels, Mantel believes that “high schools are going to be the first to adapt it, because they’re right on the cusp of wanting this technology but are not able to afford to afford more expensive alternatives.”
The future for Varsaty is bright as well. “We really want to make this a social site that helps teams improve,” states Mantel. The tagging and commenting features are already up and running, but in the near future, user will be able to post their clips to social media and share them with their friends. Scheduling, statistical, and logistical support for teams will also become a part of the site as it grows. The goal for Varsaty is to be not just a video-editing platform, but as Mantel explains, “we’re going to encompass everything that youth teams need.” The upcoming school year will have many basketball, soccer, and other sports teams use Varsaty to help develop their players individually.
Mantel and the Varsaty team are “excited about being able to provide a free service where it’s leveling the playing field. Where it’s not just the richer, more resourced teams who can afford [this technology].” Whether or not this platform will directly lead to more parity among sports at the high school level, the players will surely benefit from this resource. The social media aspect of the site is following trends in the tech community, as well as appealing to high school kids. “The fact that they’re filming these games is fantastic,” describes Mantel. “It’s really showing the way sports are going in and it’s terrific to see that coaches with teams that young are giving kids tips on how to improve as individuals.” Hopefully, Varsaty will help increase the emphasis on individual player development.